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Friday, February 25, 2011

Blog the Convention!

Announcing the "Blog the Convention" contest

Ok, it's really the Blog/Twitter/Facebook the Convention Contest, but that doesn't have the same ring to it!

The Challenge

Use Facebook, Twitter, our blog, or yours, to share your convention experience with the world, and in the process try to win some nifty prizes. Tell us your thoughts, post your pictures, and interact with other Sigma Tau Deltans through the social media tool of your choice to help make this convention the best one yet!

Two Ways to Win

1- Post the most. That's it. Nothing complicated or fancy, just be the person or team with the most qualifying posts, tweets, comments, and links, and you win. Simple as that.

2- Post the best. Be the person or team that the Student Leadership Committee feels made the best contributions to the contest, and you win. The winner will: make many different kinds of posts, leave thoughtful comments on other people's posts, posts pictures, links, maybe even video, and report on many different aspects of the convention experience. This prize is subject to the judgment of the Student Leadership Committee; multiple prizes may be awarded.

Who?Anyone! While we expect that most of the people participating will be going to the convention, those who are stuck at home can still play along by posting questions for people, responding to other people's posts, and sharing relevant links.

Members of the Student Leadership Committee and the Convention Chair are not eligible to win. However, we will still be posting right along with you. Our posts may include things like insider tips or mini contests, so keep your eyes open!

When?

The contest starts Monday, March 21, at 8 a.m. EST, and ends Monday, March 28, at 8 p.m. EST. This doesn't mean you can't start posting early. In fact, we hope you do start early so we can spread the word and get everyone excited about convention. But only posts made during the contest window will be considered for prizes.

Why? Well, aside from the fun and excitement of interacting with other convention goers and never missing out on an impromptu pizza party, we are offering fabulous prizes!

How? •Twitter: Use the hash tag #DeltaCon to enter any tweet into the contest. If you reply to something someone else said, use @Nickname at the beginning of the tweet, and make sure the hash tag gets in there too.

•Facebook: Join the Sigma Tau Delta fan page and post on our wall, using the hash tag #DeltaCon. Remember, you have to put it on our fan page. If you post it on your wall we might not see it and it may not get counted.

•Your Own blog, website, or Facebook page: Make your posts there. Then share the link with us on our Facebook page or Twitter (remember to use those hash tags).

•Email: Don't like any of that bloggy, Twittery, Tacebooky stuff, but still want to participate? No problem! email your submissions directly to the Student Leadership Committee at sigmatd.sa1@gmail.com and we will post them for you. It may take a little while for us to get around to posting it, but as long as your email is received during the contest window it will be counted.

•Can't decide which to use? You don't have to! You can use any combination of submission methods that you want. Just make sure you send us an email to sigmatd.sa1@gmail.com to let us know that Jane Delta on Facebook and JaneDelta1986 on Twitter are the same person so you get credit for all of your posts.

•Team up! Don't think you can do it on your own? Combine your efforts with your friends for a better chance to win. You can all post using one account, or just send us an email at sigmatd.sa1@gmail.com letting us know which accounts and screen names are part of your team. Unfortunately this does mean you will have to share the prize, but it's always nice to share.

•One more thing! Please do not use the initialism "STD" to refer to our illustrious organization. If "Sigma Tau Delta" takes up too many of your 140 characters, we would prefer you use "SigmaTD".

What?Post anything related to the convention. Tell us how excited you are to be going. Post a picture of your chapter looking sleepy at the airport. Share instructions on your killer packing technique that let you fit everything you need into one carryon. Once here, let people know what events you are attending, and when they are over let people know what you thought. Share a video of your chapter's 2nd place Dry T-shirt skit and let the world know you were robbed! Start a poll for the best place to eat lunch. Announce that anyone who comes by your t-shirt table with the code word gets 20% off. Re-tell the funny joke you overheard in the hall. Invite people to join you for dinner at Primanti Bros. Ask if anyone knows the name of the guy who went last at open mic night. As you are packing up and heading home, reflect on your experiences and give us your suggestions for how things could be better. You can even post links to content on other sites, so long as it has something to do with convention (video of one of our featured speakers at another event is good, video of you at your cousin's bachelor party a year ago is not). Remember, the comments you leave on other people's posts count too, so make sure you read what other people have to say and give them feedback.

Winners will be announced after the contest ends (it may take us a few days to tabulate the scores, so please be patient). Winners will be contacted through whatever medium you used to participate, so make sure to check your Facebook/Twitter/Blog/email/whatever to find out if you won. Prizes will be mailed to the winner in early April.

The Fine Print:

You knew is was coming sooner or later! Don't worry, we're not trying to trick you; this is basically the part where we say that cheaters never prosper.

Posts that won't count toward prize eligibility: -Unrelated posts. Your post must have something to do with convention to be counted. -Duplicates. If you post the exact same link 4 times in one day we will note your enthusiasm, but you will only get credit for it the first time only. -Retweets/Reposts. If someone shares a great link and you want to repost it so your non-Sigma Tau Delta friends can see it, swell! But don't expect to get credit for something someone else wrote. -Likes. While we encourage you to hit the"Like" button on Facebook or the "Funny" button on the blog if you think someone made a good post, only actual comments will count as contest activity.

This contest is meant to be fun for everyone and we expect participants to reflect Sigma Tau Delta's high standards for decorum. The following types of posts will be immediately removed/reported, and could get you disqualified from the contest. We will try to give you a warning first, but truly egregious violations will result in immediate disqualification. Posts that will get you in trouble: -Any posts containing inappropriate language, inappropriate material, insults, or other behavior unbecoming of a Sigma Tau Delta member. This will include, but not be limited to profanity, nudity, name calling, hate speech, or harassment. -Any posts that describe inappropriate behavior, even if the post doesn't include graphic descriptions or pictures. We are not here to play nanny, we expect you to use your judgement on this. If you take a picture of your chapter at dinner, the adults don't need to hide their wine glasses. But if you get drunk and decide to do something stupid, please don't share it with the rest of us. If you wouldn't want the Dean of your college hearing about it, we don't want to hear about it either. -Any posts that depict or describe activity or behavior that is illegal or against hotel rules. Not only will this sort of post be deleted, we will be obligated to report it to your chapter sponsor and possibly the police or hotel management. -Unauthorized pictures or video. Everyone who attends convention has consented to be photographed or recorded while at the event, and it is usually not a problem to snap a picture or record a speech. However, our 4 featured speakers are all under contract, and they usually do not give us permission to take video of them. Any unauthorized video of our featured speakers will be immediately removed from any sites that we control and may result in further disciplinary action. Also, because having flashes going off in the face is disconcerting to people presenting their papers, please be polite and ask before taking photos during a session. If the subject of a picture or video asks us to take it down we will, and you won't get credit for it, so when in doubt, ask. -Spam. The rules of the contest are not strict, and your posts don't have to be particularly long or deep to count, but obviously trying to game the system by posting dozens of slight variations on the same message or commenting on every post with "Yeah!" or "You're so right!" will result in disciplinary action. We will try to warn you if we see this kind of behavior and give you a chance to change and/or appeal, but any activity that appears to be from a script, bot, hacker, or other malicious person or tool will be banned automatically. If the contest gets taken over by hackers we will end it and nobody will win, so please don't ruin it for everybody! If you do notice suspicious activity, please report it right away. -Plagiarism or cheating. If we catch you trying to pass off someone else's material as your own, claiming ownership of an account that isn't yours, or in any way trying to cheat, you will be immediately disqualified from the contest and could face further disciplinary action.